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Prime Minister George Papandreou met with visiting Libyan Prime
Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi on Friday in the Greek capital,
stressing afterwards that new prospects are being opened for stronger
relations between Athens and Tripoli.

Papandreou underlined that the meeting focused on the sectors of
energy, renewable energy sources (RES), construction and tourism.

He referred to friendly relations of the two countries and underlined
that the international community recognises Libya‚s important place and
has restored relations with the country.

Papandreou stressed that "Libya plays a very important role in the
Mediterranean region and serves as gateway of communication with
African states." He also announced that he will visit the country
soon.

On his part, the Libyan prime minister referred to the close bilateral
relations and focused on cooperation in the sectors of energy, power
production, telecoms, RES, natural gas, infrastructures, tourism, sea
transport and the prospects of Libyan investments in Greece.

"Libya is experiencing a phase of major growth with disbursed funds of
200 billion US dollars," he said, stressing that "we welcome the
contribution of Greek companies in advance."

He also suggested the establishment of an economic trade zone between
Greece and Libya and the utilisation of the sea borders shared by the
two countries.

"Libya has made a clear political decision to cooperate with Greece and
offer our support to help it overcome the crisis," al-Mahmoudi added,
underlining that "the Libyan market is an extension of the Greek
market".

Greece‚s state budget deficit dropped 41.5 pct in the January-April
period to 6.313 billion euros, down from 10.791 billion euros in the
corresponding period last year, the finance ministry announced on
Friday.

In a report, the ministry attributed the fiscal deficit in the first
four months of the year to lower spending and higher revenues, despite
the fact that figures did not fully reflect additional cost-cutting
measures announced in March and May.

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) Parliamentary Group President and
Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) leader Alexis
Tsipras emphasises party unity.

Speaking in an interview with the Sunday newspaper Avghi, Tsipras sent
a strict message that he will not allow any other phenomena of decay in
the sector of SYN, as well as competitive political plans that are
developing within SYRIZA.

Two weeks before the crucial congress, Tsipras expresses his faith in
SYN's unity and continuation and also believes that the government will
not hold out for long.